THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

BY J. S. FLETCHER

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO
SIR WILLIAM ROBERTSON NICOLL
WITH MUCH GRATITUDE

CONTENTS

Part the First: RISE

Part the Second: FALL

Part the First: RISE

CHAPTER I

Applecroft

Half-way along the one straggling street of Savilestowe a narrow lane suddenly opened out between the cottages and turned abruptly towards the uplands which rose on the northern edge of the village. Its first course lay between high grey walls, overhung with ivy and snapdragon. When it emerged from their cool shadowings the church came in view on one hand and the school on the other, each set on its own green knoll and standing high above the meadows. Once past these it became narrower and more tortuous; the banks on either side rose steeply, and were crowned by ancient oaks and elms. In the proper season of the year these banks were thick with celandine and anemone, and the scent of hedge violets rose from the moss among the spreading roots of the trees. Here the ruts of the lane were deep, as if no man had any particular business to repair them. The lane was, in fact, a mere occupation road, and led to nothing but an out-of-the-way farmstead, which stood,